Geology

Chino Mine Vista Point (Santa Rita)

Grant County, NM

Approximate location — plotted from published sources, not a site visit, and not a guarantee of access.

Roadside overlook of the Chino open-pit copper mine — also called Santa Rita del Cobre — one of the oldest copper districts in the United States and a textbook porphyry-copper excavation. Interpretive displays explain the pit; the Kneeling Nun welded tuff cliff stands on the skyline. The historic town of Santa Rita was relocated as the pit expanded.

Facts

RegionGrant County, NM
Coordinates (approx.)32.7917, -108.0673
RockPorphyry copper; Kneeling Nun Tuff on skyline
EraSpanish colonial copper works; open-pit mining from 1910
AccessSigned overlook on NM 152 east of Hanover
ManagerActive Freeport-McMoRan operation; public vista only

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